Bombay Republicans, the last challenger from Mumbai who were left in the fray, went down fighting to Comptroller & Auditor General of India, New Delhi by a narrow 3-2 score line in an exciting and engrossing semi-final match of the 15th All India Guru Tegh Bahadur Gold Cup Hockey Tournament 2019, at the MHAL stadium, Churchgate on Friday.
Earlier, former champions Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), New Delhi romped to a 4-1 victory against a young, spirited Hockey Family Badkhalsa (HFB), Haryana in the first semi-final.
The Mumbai outfit adopted a cautious, defensive approach at the start and paid dearly as they conceded two goals within a five-minute span inside the first quarter. CAG opened the scoring through Manish Yadav who converted a penalty corner in the eight minute and five minutes later Gurpartap Singh scored from a field effort to double the lead.
Stung by those setbacks, Bombay Republicans managed to put up a strong fight back and scored twice from field goals through Darshan Gawkar in the 18th minute and Akshay Avhad in the 24th minute to restore parity.
However, CAG got the crucial winner through a second goal from Gurpartap Singh in the 38th minute, which secured their win.
In the first match, the Haryana youngsters put up a good fighting display against the more experienced IOC team, boasting of several Olympians and internationals in their ranks, and held them goalless in the first quarter.
But, IOC captain V.R. Raghunath broke th deadlock converting from a penalty corner in the 22nd minute and eight minutes later Gurjinder Singh scored from another penalty corner to add the second goal. Later, IOC struck two quick goals through S.K. Uthappa 50th minute and Armaan Qureshi 51st minute to take complete control. HFB kept on fighting and managed a consolation goal scored by Vinay Rana in the 53rd minute.
Results – Semi-finals: Indian Oil Corporation, New Delhi 4 (V.R. Raghunath 22, Gurjinder Singh 40, S.K. Uthappa 50, Armaan Qureshi 51) beat Hockey Family Badhkhalsa, Haryana 1(Vinay Rana 53).
Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India, New Delhi (Gurpartap Singh 2, Manish Yadav) beat Bombay Republicans SC 2 (Darshan Gawkar, Akshay Avhad).